Speech writing tips – How many words?

When I first started writing speeches, I struggled to know how many words to write for a speech of a given length. The only way I would know was to rehearse the speech and time how long it lasted.

Now I have learned that I typically speak at an average of 80-100 words per minute when presenting in public and so I can quickly calculate how many words I need to write i.e. 400-500 words for a five minute speech and so on.

Now not everybody speaks at the same pace. Some books quote the normal speaking rate as around 125 words per minute but remember that there is a big difference between normal conversation and public speaking. The best public speakers tend, on average to speak a bit slower so i would recommend that you start of with around 100 wpm and see how you get on. Most word processors have a word count function built into them so it’s easy to check how much you have written.

Of course it goes without saying that when writing a speech of any length don’t forget the basics. You need an interesting opening, a powerful conclusion and relevant body content. and remember to rehearse it out loud. Give as much time to planning the delivery as you do the planning the content.

And now that you know how many words to use, you’ll want to know what sort of content to put into your presentation for maximum impact. Enter your email address in the form below and we’ll send you a free copy of our practical guide to great presentation content plus regular presentation tips.

“I just wanted to leave you a quick testimonial about the presentation guide.

I have a session I am running at an international conference this month and although I have done many presentations the word count calculator along with your very clear framework has given me a really good way of evaluating if I am on the right tracks. Thank you for a concise and really useful guide” – Sheryl Andrews

Thank Greg. Working with a translator brings a whole new dimension and you certainly do need to slow down plus you need to also insert more pauses so that the translator can do their stuff. I think you may need to go for even fewer words! Whilst this can be a chalenge, the discipline of editing your content down to the essentials is often very useful. I recall being a delegate at a 3 day workshop in Japan where the trainer was Amercian and half of the 100 delegates were Japanese! He had a live interpreter so he would say a piece, step back and then she would translate. When he first started, I thought the gaps for translation would be a real pain but actually, it gave me more time to think about what we were being taught and it worked really well.